Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) has signed an agreement with the Bolivian government to generate US$1.4bn in investments to help exploit the country’s largely untapped reserves of lithium.
The announcement follows a preliminary agreement signed in January between Bolivia’s state run lithium company Yacimientos del Litio Bolivianos (YLB) and a Chinese consortium involving CATL, the world’s largest EV battery manufacturer.
Bolivian president Luis Arce said in a statement CATL had agreed to invest in two plants to process lithium ore mined from Bolivia’s vast salt flats. The facilities could produce up to 25,000 tons of battery grade lithium carbonate per year when fully operational.
Bolivia’s salt flats have among the world’s largest untapped reserves of lithium, estimated at around 21m tonnes.
Arce said his government “met with Burton Roy, CEO of the Investment Committee of CATL, to confirm an investment of US$1.4bn. CATL also said it will evaluate the possibility of increasing these investments by 2028”.
Separate reports citing Bolivia’s energy ministry suggested construction of the two processing plants could begin as early as July.
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